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Alanna Navin on Leadership Lessons from ICCFA University · On Deathcare

0:02
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I am Tony Russo from On Deathcare, and this week we are speaking with Alana Navin.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: She is a funeral director who has just completed her second year at ICCFA University.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: And so we talk about her entire trip.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: I did an interview with her about a year ago.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: I will send you all the stories that I write except I write one special thing each week.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: So it has been almost exactly a year since we spoke in real person.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: It's good to be back.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm sure it is, right?
1:34
SPEAKER_00: Hang in tough.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: So, but before we get into everything,
1:37
SPEAKER_00: everyone hasn't been following your career that I personally have in
1:41
SPEAKER_00: a non-stalkery way.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Tell us how you got into funeral service and more importantly,
1:46
SPEAKER_00: how you decided you wanted to try the ICCFA University last year,
1:50
SPEAKER_00: which is when you went for your first time.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: So essentially, I got into funeral service basically by way of my mother.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: She and her family actually lived in a funeral when she was younger.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: And after I graduated from Georgia State University,
2:06
SPEAKER_01: I was on track to go ahead and start applying to medical schools,
2:10
SPEAKER_01: taking the MCAT, things of that nature, that portion.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: I was having a crisis.
2:16
SPEAKER_01: Basically, one day I was crying to her.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: Is this something that I want to do?
2:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to do with the rest of my life.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: And she looked at me and she said, have you considered doing what your grandmother did?
2:26
SPEAKER_01: I looked at her and I was thinking to myself, I don't want to work with dead people.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: That was just my first initial thought.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: So she told me to think about it, told me to pray about it.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: I told her I would.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: I started doing some research on Google.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: This is well before artificial intelligence, all that kind of thing.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: So you can look for an answer instead of, Yes,
2:49
SPEAKER_01: look for an answer.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: I was able to dig.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: And after some contemplating and just thinking, well,
2:58
SPEAKER_01: being around decedents,
3:00
SPEAKER_01: being around things that are kind of, I'll just say morbid for lack of better words.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: I thought to myself, well, to be perfectly fair, I have dissected its specimens before.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: I've been to A few funerals in my lifetime starting from childhood.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make me uncomfortable.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: Let me go ahead and get a part-time job as a funeral assistant to see
3:24
SPEAKER_01: if I actually would imagine myself working in that type of environment.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: I started working just as a funeral assistant.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: At one of the local funeral homes in my area at the time.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, ah, dang, I think I'm falling in love with this.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: So I decided to attend mortuary science school through the Dallas Institute of Funeral Service.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: And worked my way to basically complete my apprenticeships, pass the boards for the first time.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: And now I'm here today at a first life funeral home and cemetery.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: What's very cool about your story is that you also kind of moved
4:06
SPEAKER_00: into management pretty quickly.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: Like you hit the ground running.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: And when we spoke last year, you decided to go to ICCFA for something you had no idea about.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, ICCFA University.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: So tell me about your process for deciding to go and then getting to go
4:23
SPEAKER_00: because there was a little bit of a hiccup there.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: Essentially at the time I was working within my first managerial job as
4:30
SPEAKER_01: a call center manager at Rustland.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: It was my first job within a leadership position,
4:37
SPEAKER_01: working and taking care of a team,
4:42
SPEAKER_01: making sure we're reaching our KPIs,
4:44
SPEAKER_01: making sure we're reaching certain metrics,
4:46
SPEAKER_01: but at the same time still balancing that empathy and sympathy that we need to hold
4:52
SPEAKER_01: for families while on the phone,
4:53
SPEAKER_01: because that's their first impression of any funeral home.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: And so as I was researching, I was like, okay, I...
5:01
SPEAKER_01: Life management,
5:03
SPEAKER_01: I do enjoy working with a team of people and gathering people to reach
5:09
SPEAKER_01: a mutual goal,
5:10
SPEAKER_01: which that goal is serving families, but just serving families with excellence.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: That's a true goal at the end of the day when it comes to leading in this field.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: So as I was researching, I was like, I want to expand myself.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: I always consider myself like a lifelong learner.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: I have enjoyed school and learning and Ever since I was a child,
5:32
SPEAKER_01: I consider myself a pretty curious person.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: So as I was researching and just kind of, I logged onto LinkedIn one day and I follow ICCFA.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: They have this post, ICCFA University, we have scholarships.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: I was like, let me look into that.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: So I click on the link,
5:51
SPEAKER_01: look at their different colleges that they have,
5:53
SPEAKER_01: see how the courses are structured, see how this whole program is structured.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, well...
5:59
SPEAKER_01: What's the best way to learn something than sometimes in a structured environment?
6:04
SPEAKER_01: And I had to think to myself, what is one thing that I really don't know about?
6:08
SPEAKER_01: That would be the cemetery side.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: As a funeral director at Reston, we touched a cemetery, but not like an intensive way.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: As if you were a cemetery and that's not my wheelhouse.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't my wheelhouse.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Then it's still not my expertise now.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: But of course, Through that education, I do have a better understanding now.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: But at the time, I was like, well, I don't know anything about this.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: I might as well go ahead and apply for the scholarship and see if I can get it.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: So essentially,
6:42
SPEAKER_01: after applying for the scholarship,
6:45
SPEAKER_01: like once receiving the scholarship through like a letter of recommendation
6:49
SPEAKER_01: from my boss at the time,
6:51
SPEAKER_01: I was able to go to Atlanta and I got a fantastic educational experience.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: I got a fantastic networking experience.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: And I can definitely say I've made some dear friends from all over the country,
7:05
SPEAKER_01: all over the world.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: Were you able to apply anything when you got back or is this just something
7:09
SPEAKER_00: that gave you a little bit of a little bit deeper knowledge?
7:13
SPEAKER_00: What was your host?
7:14
SPEAKER_00: Because we spoke just not too long after you came back like we're speaking now.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: But what was your last year like as far as pre and post ICCFA University?
7:26
SPEAKER_01: Coming back from ICCFA University, I was pretty pumped.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: I came back and shared with my boss everything that I learned because she herself is
7:36
SPEAKER_01: a She is very versed in being a cemetery.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: She still runs the funeral in the cemetery as a senior managing partner of operations.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: So I was able to come back to her just like, well, we could classify ourselves as an arboretum.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: She was starting to implement a tree program because we have many trees on it.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: Rustlands property, beautiful trees, old trees.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: It really does help with the aesthetic of the cemetery and the Texas eat.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: It's very helpful having a couple of trees around to stand under while you're at a gravesite.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: But I was able to come back and...
8:17
SPEAKER_01: And share information,
8:18
SPEAKER_01: not just with my media team in the call center,
8:21
SPEAKER_01: but I did give a presentation at Town Hall about what it means to be an Arboretum,
8:27
SPEAKER_01: the history of Arboretums,
8:28
SPEAKER_01: how we can become an Arboretum through a certain certification.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: I just kind of left it at that, planted that seed.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: For me, I don't think we pursued the certification to become an arboretum at the time.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: However,
8:42
SPEAKER_01: still planting that seed with that appreciation for the fauna,
8:46
SPEAKER_01: or excuse me,
8:49
SPEAKER_01: the flora that we have within the cemetery,
8:51
SPEAKER_01: all the beautiful trees,
8:53
SPEAKER_01: all the beautiful plants that we have, and how to maintain it.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: So when families do come, it's a place of peace.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: It's also a place of beauty.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: So ultimately at the end of the day,
9:04
SPEAKER_01: I think with the education I received from my first year at ICCFA University,
9:10
SPEAKER_01: I was able to come back and myself have a better appreciation when it comes
9:15
SPEAKER_01: to cemeteries,
9:16
SPEAKER_01: have a better appreciation when it comes to the safety of the cemetery crew,
9:20
SPEAKER_01: what my part as a funeral director means to ensure that safety,
9:24
SPEAKER_01: how to keep families safe when they're attending a gravesite.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: How a gravesite should be set up.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: Even when it comes to the personalization at the gravesite,
9:33
SPEAKER_01: instead of just a den and chairs, you could have a memory table.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: You could have a couple little snacks out while people,
9:40
SPEAKER_01: before they disperse,
9:41
SPEAKER_01: they could get a piece of grandma's favorite pie after the service or something like
9:47
SPEAKER_01: that.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: So it was definitely pulling everything together in the sense of serving families
9:54
SPEAKER_01: a way that was bespoke,
9:57
SPEAKER_01: unique, but at the same time maintaining the safety and the structure of the center.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: I think for me, I was able to educate myself with the balance of both.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: How long did it take to become an arboretum and where are you guys in that process?
10:11
SPEAKER_00: Did you end up going ahead with it?
10:13
SPEAKER_01: Mm-mm.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: From my research and understanding, it doesn't take that long to become an arboretum.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: They have different levels of being an arboretum.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: Like level one, you can have 20, 25 trees for different species of those trees.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: Level two to three, you...
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Have several dozen,
10:36
SPEAKER_01: three or four, several hundred of different types of species and things like that.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: I can't quite remember the exact levels,
10:46
SPEAKER_01: but from my understanding,
10:47
SPEAKER_01: it's more so just,
10:50
SPEAKER_01: it's taking the time to go out there,
10:53
SPEAKER_01: tag all of your trees,
10:55
SPEAKER_01: tag all of the types of Different species
10:59
SPEAKER_01: that you have there will all come check their health
11:02
SPEAKER_01: and you could just essentially register with the organization and just say we're
11:10
SPEAKER_01: a certified arboretum.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: I think it's important to plant seeds like that because
11:15
SPEAKER_01: while they may not take root right now, they could take root in the future.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: Then deciding to go this year, you took an entirely different tack.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: So tell me about, again,
11:27
SPEAKER_00: the application process,
11:28
SPEAKER_00: because as I understand it,
11:30
SPEAKER_00: you were able to get a scholarship again this year,
11:32
SPEAKER_00: which is why you were able to go this year.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: How did you do the course selection part?
11:36
SPEAKER_00: And was the course selection part of your ability to get the scholarships?
11:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, basically you,
11:43
SPEAKER_01: when it comes to ICCFA, you,
11:46
SPEAKER_01: what you choose to become a graduate,
11:50
SPEAKER_01: you choose four courses over the course of four years.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: So each year should be a different course.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: Like for me,
11:57
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't really going to go back to the College of Cemetery and Grounds Management,
12:03
SPEAKER_01: but I I wanted to educate myself and expand my understanding when it comes
12:08
SPEAKER_01: to something that I'm currently in right now, funeral management.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: I became the assistant funeral manager at Restland in November.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: It's still pretty fresh for me,
12:20
SPEAKER_01: so this time I'm still getting my teeth really sinking into the meat and potatoes
12:28
SPEAKER_01: of what it means to be on.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: This side of management to be managing funeral directors
12:34
SPEAKER_01: to be also managing concerns or complaints from families,
12:39
SPEAKER_01: what it means to be more front-facing instead of being a call senator,
12:44
SPEAKER_01: be front-facing, like physically speaking.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Right.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: In front of client families.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: But how at the same time do we provide excellent services?
12:55
SPEAKER_01: How do we personalize those services?
12:58
SPEAKER_01: What do you do when it comes to budget concerns and things like that?
13:02
SPEAKER_01: So for me, I was like, this is a course I'm Definitely going to have to take this year.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: That's a decision I definitely made on my own.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, okay, I'm still figuring things out.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: So to help me fast track,
13:16
SPEAKER_01: figuring those things out, I should give myself a little bit of an education.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: So I told my boss, I'm going to apply for this scholarship.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: If I get it again, I'll take PTO and I'll go.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: She said, okay.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: She wrote me a
13:30
SPEAKER_01: lot of recommendations, got the scholarship and went back to Atlanta.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: Tell me about getting your promotion real quick before we go forward.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: What was that like?
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Was it something that they approached you about?
13:42
SPEAKER_00: Was there an open position that you applied for?
13:45
SPEAKER_00: How did it work?
13:46
SPEAKER_01: Good question.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: So essentially, I was having a one-on-one with my boss at the time.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: She looked at me at that one-on-one and said, this is the end of the one.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: Being the call center manager, if you want to get in my position in the future...
14:03
SPEAKER_01: The position that you're in now is not going to lead you to it.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: It's not exactly that easy path.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: What she said is basically like, this is a dead end.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, oh dang, what am I supposed to do?
14:17
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: So she said,
14:19
SPEAKER_01: if in the future,
14:21
SPEAKER_01: if there ever comes a position open for an assistant funeral manager,
14:26
SPEAKER_01: she asked me, Do you want to take it?
14:28
SPEAKER_01: And I told her, yes, absolutely.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: I want to take it.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: I don't want this to be it.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: I want to keep growing.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: I want to get into her position in the future.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: I want to get into her position in the future and beyond.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: She said, okay, well, we'll see how long that takes.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: But I know that you're interested.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: Let's just keep growing.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: Trucking forward as we're doing.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: The funny part of that conversation is that she came back to me the next week.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: She said, well, we have a position.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: I was like, wait, wait a second.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: What?
15:02
SPEAKER_01: Essentially,
15:03
SPEAKER_01: the other assistant funeral manager,
15:07
SPEAKER_01: she was in a different phase of her life, looking at strengths and weaknesses.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: She wants to stay in funeral service.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: She has a passion for serving families and providing excellence.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: She just wanted to start serving people in a slightly different capacity than being
15:26
SPEAKER_01: an assistant funeral manager by position.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Was proposed to her.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: She said, yeah,
15:33
SPEAKER_01: I would be interested in it because it would be a source of learning,
15:36
SPEAKER_01: a source of growth for her.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: And we had to have kind of like interviews and several meetings with each other,
15:43
SPEAKER_01: with our respected managers.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: We essentially made the switch.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: She took my position in the call center as manager.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: I took her position in the funeral as assistant manager.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: And that's how it happened.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: It sounds like an An hour switch,
15:59
SPEAKER_00: though, was the call center, were there more predictable hours?
16:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there was a little bit more predictability in the call center to an extent.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: But with being the call center,
16:11
SPEAKER_01: I would have to say it does have its own set of challenges
16:14
SPEAKER_01: because you're not just working with families,
16:16
SPEAKER_01: you're working with other departments.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: You have to be a jack of all trades and master of none.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: So, which is a little bit of a difficulty when you're kind of like in a focus expertise,
16:28
SPEAKER_01: if that makes
16:28
SPEAKER_00: sense.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: And what were some of your big takeaways going to ICCFA University this year?
16:34
SPEAKER_00: Was there something you were, was it something you were better prepared for?
16:37
SPEAKER_00: Did you like say, all right, well, I won't know I want to do this, that, that.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: And the other thing, how did, how did your second experience compare with your first?
16:46
SPEAKER_01: My second experience was fantastic,
16:48
SPEAKER_01: but I would have to say with every year at ICCFA University,
16:54
SPEAKER_01: you really do not know what you're going to take away
16:57
SPEAKER_01: and you really do not know how it's going to affect you.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: That's not a bad thing because it's kind of like...
17:04
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be a surprise.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: It's an adventure.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: So a box of chocolates is kind of random.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: And random in the sense of like, you really do not know what you're going to take away for sure.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: And so for me, like, of course, I know what to expect in the sense of like, I come to Atlanta.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: I land in Atlanta.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: Get up my Uber, go to the hotel.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: I check in, meet some old classmates from last year.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: What are you going to be doing this year?
17:35
SPEAKER_01: Blah, blah, blah.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: But as soon as you sit down for the first session...
17:40
SPEAKER_01: They give you, of course, an overview of your next several days.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: But when you actually get into those classes,
17:48
SPEAKER_01: when you get into those sessions,
17:51
SPEAKER_01: you're going to be taking away all types of things.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: Some people take away certain things.
17:57
SPEAKER_01: Some people take away other things.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: And you don't know how it's going to affect you or affect your way of thinking.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Which could challenge your way of thinking or could make you think,
18:09
SPEAKER_01: oh, I don't want to do that, but I'll take this piece of advice.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: And so what was your experience this year like?
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: So I would have to say my experience this year was very positive overall.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: I would have to say
18:23
SPEAKER_01: that my experience this year did definitely challenge my perspective when it comes
18:29
SPEAKER_01: to managing a funeral home.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Because us being in the position for seven,
18:35
SPEAKER_01: eight months,
18:38
SPEAKER_01: definitely I thought I had somewhat of a preconceived notion of managing
18:42
SPEAKER_01: a funeral home.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: But coming here,
18:48
SPEAKER_01: it definitely expanded my view of what we could do as a funeral home,
18:53
SPEAKER_01: what we could do as a common location of a funeral home and cemetery home.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: To me, and for me,
19:01
SPEAKER_01: my biggest takeaway was definitely how to ensure the longevity of your business.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: That would be to really get involved in the community,
19:11
SPEAKER_01: not just as an individual, but as an organization.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: And so that was the biggest takeaway I took,
19:17
SPEAKER_01: and that is something that I'm working with the other leadership of the funeral
19:23
SPEAKER_01: to do.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: When it comes to volunteering on volunteer days,
19:29
SPEAKER_01: when it comes to joining certain organizations and saying,
19:33
SPEAKER_01: this is a company that I represent,
19:36
SPEAKER_01: it could be just doing a senior day or a workshop for senior citizens at
19:44
SPEAKER_01: a nursing home.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: It could be coming to a children's school and just be like, hey, kids,
19:49
SPEAKER_01: do you want to be a funeral director in the future for Friday or something like
19:54
SPEAKER_01: that?
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Probably a lot of them would be like,
19:57
SPEAKER_01: eh, I don't want to do that, but at least you're getting yourself out there.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: When it comes to providing funds for kids' backpacks or school supplies,
20:09
SPEAKER_01: there's just so many other ways we can tell people that We are here not just for
20:15
SPEAKER_01: the saddest day of your life.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: We can be here for any other day of your life because death is a part of life.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: But that doesn't mean we just have to be there at one part.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: We can be there for every step of the way because that's what we should be.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: We should be part of this community.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: We should be part of the Fab Fair.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: That's absolutely fantastic.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: And when,
20:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
20:36
SPEAKER_00: I know you're just, I know,
20:37
SPEAKER_00: I know you're just back and a lot of times,
20:38
SPEAKER_00: you know,
20:38
SPEAKER_00: you come back with your head on fire and then you're like,
20:41
SPEAKER_00: okay, well, I also have to do my regular job.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Was that part of the thing?
20:46
SPEAKER_00: You got a sense of how much more can be done given, even though you're already doing a bunch?
20:51
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: So for me,
20:54
SPEAKER_01: it was a really good litmus test to just,
20:58
SPEAKER_01: to just look at like what we are doing to work.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: Further presence in the community.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: And I definitely had to sit down with a couple of my team members and say,
21:09
SPEAKER_01: there is so, so much more that we could be doing.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: But we could do it with even more excellence.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: And so for me, you just can't do everything at once at one time.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh, we're going to do the school backpacks.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: We're going to do the senior citizen thing.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: We're going to do this.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: We're going to do that.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: We have to focus and we're making plans to focus on one particular task and grow from there.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: What do you see for next year?
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Do you feel like next year is something, do you have your eye on going again next year?
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Is this something that you're going to do as often as you can?
21:42
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to go all four years?
21:44
SPEAKER_01: I definitely do want to go all four years.
21:47
SPEAKER_01: Next year, there's a couple of colleges that I'm definitely interested in.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: One would be the College of Technology.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: I hear a lot of fantastic things about that college and the subsequent courses,
22:00
SPEAKER_01: especially as we're moving into the age of artificial intelligence,
22:05
SPEAKER_01: as we're moving into more sophisticated technology,
22:10
SPEAKER_01: like on our smartphones, how can we serve families in that way?
22:14
SPEAKER_01: Recently, I performed a cremation for a lady who lost her baby.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, she was like, can I just do this all through text?
22:25
SPEAKER_01: And I said, okay, we can do that.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: She didn't want to talk to anyone because she was grieving that heavy.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: She's like, I don't have the strength to actually get on the phone and talk to someone.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: Can I just please text you?
22:41
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: That's perfectly fine.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: We can do this all through Dext.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: We can do this all through DocuSign.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with that.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: There's just a couple of caveats that I just need you to be aware of,
22:52
SPEAKER_01: such as identification measures, legal measures, things like that.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: And you were already ready for that,
22:59
SPEAKER_00: but it also opened your eyes that there's so much more out there technology-wise.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: And, of course, we...
23:08
SPEAKER_01: There's always going to be that space to that touch and feel aspect of what we do.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Getting in front of families,
23:15
SPEAKER_01: showing them the casket selection room or their urn selection,
23:19
SPEAKER_01: showing them like a memory portrait or memorial thumbprint jewelry.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: There's always going to be that touch and feel aspect.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: But for a certain subset of the population that could be grieving and grieving
23:31
SPEAKER_01: the way that they don't want to be physically present,
23:34
SPEAKER_01: but they want to take care of things in a certain way,
23:38
SPEAKER_01: we still have to be ready for those families.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to ostracize them or make them feel like,
23:45
SPEAKER_01: I guess you really don't love your loved one because you don't want to be here
23:49
SPEAKER_01: for them.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to ostracize them.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: But the best way to project app would be through technology.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: So I think next year, I'm definitely interested in taking that course.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: But I'll look at the other courses and see,
24:01
SPEAKER_01: it's like, huh, maybe I should take that one instead.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: And that is pretty much all I have for you, unless you have something else for me.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: Is there something I should have asked and didn't or a story you wanted to tell
24:13
SPEAKER_00: that I didn't give you the chance to or anything like that?
24:16
SPEAKER_01: I say one story to tell would be, so I met a young lady.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Her name is Gary Richardson.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: We swapped out and sat next to each other.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: We had our name tags next to each other.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: We spent Like we had chitchatted here and there,
24:33
SPEAKER_01: but spent the entire time next to each other during this course.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: And so on the very last day,
24:40
SPEAKER_01: she was texting the leaders of one of our organizations that were part
24:46
SPEAKER_01: of Continuing Vision.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: So she was contacting Jeff Holcomb of Continuing Vision, just texting like back and forth.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: She's texting, oh, I'm at ICCFA University this year.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: And Jeff is like, Alana's actually at ICCF University this year.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: She's one of the other mentors that we have in our Continuing the Vision program.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: She turned and looked at me.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: She's like, are you part of Continuing the Vision?
25:12
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, yeah.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: She's like, girl,
25:15
SPEAKER_01: we've been sitting next to each other for the entire week
25:17
SPEAKER_01: and we did not recognize each
25:19
SPEAKER_00: other.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: But she lives up in the Northeast.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm living in Texas.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking to myself, oh, yeah, she's part of the administration team.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: I was like, you're Carrie of the administration team.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm so sorry.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: So we exchanged information and cool, cool young lady.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: She's fantastic.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: Also super passionate about serving families and just providing beautiful services
25:51
SPEAKER_01: to them and leading a team and making sure families are comfortable
25:55
SPEAKER_01: and her team is okay.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: So the fact that we're part of the same organization but not realize it until
26:01
SPEAKER_01: the very last day is just so funny to me.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: So shout out to Carrie Richardson.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: I've now forgotten about you.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: And kind of along those lines,
26:12
SPEAKER_00: you know,
26:12
SPEAKER_00: you mentioned this last time and you mentioned it earlier in the conversation.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to just you talked about the networking opportunities,
26:19
SPEAKER_00: just all the people you get to meet.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: You know,
26:22
SPEAKER_00: have you because you were in touch with some of your fellow students over the over
26:26
SPEAKER_00: the course of the year then?
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: We actually had our group chat going.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: And every time they would see an announcement,
26:36
SPEAKER_01: they congratulate one of the articles I had published in the Mentorory last year.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: We would congratulate each other if we see things on LinkedIn or even Facebook.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: So it's just a supportive group of professionals that I think is fantastic to keep
26:52
SPEAKER_01: in touch with.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: All right.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you very much for your time.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for having me back, Tony.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate this conversation.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk to you in another year.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll see you next year.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: So one of my favorite things to do is to follow someone's career like this.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: So it's been really nice of Alana to kind of share her journey
27:12
SPEAKER_00: with us along her experience with the ICCFA University.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: I hope you got a lot out of it.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a great thing.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: I've never spoken with anyone who has anything but the best things to say
27:23
SPEAKER_00: about their experience at the ICCFA University.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: And that will do us for this time.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: This has been an On Deathcare production.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: It was written and edited by me, Tony Russo.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: Please, please,
27:39
SPEAKER_00: please consider subscribing by going to ondeathcare.com to get everything
27:45
SPEAKER_00: that I make, including more videos and podcasts and...
27:50
SPEAKER_00: I put out a show every Tuesday on the news and
27:52
SPEAKER_00: then I do these occasional interview shows and I hope you're enjoying them.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Finally,
28:19
SPEAKER_00: once again,
28:20
SPEAKER_00: thanks to my paid subscribers for keeping the lights on
28:23
SPEAKER_00: and keeping me moving forward.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm having an absolute blast, and I hope that you are enjoying what I'm putting out there.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: So that'll do it for this time, and we will check in with you next time.